Prehistoric Puzzle
by Veldeia
Summary: Five years ago, Dinoland was freed from Goa'uld rule. Now, SG1 must find a way to save it from being taken over again. As if simply surviving wasn't difficult enough.
1. Chapter 1

AUTHOR'S INTRO: After a looong silence due to both school and such stuff and some serious trouble with getting a yet un-posted story beta-read (still haven't decided what to do with it), I'm starting a new story. Feeling a bit nervous about whether I know how to write anymore... I guess we'll find out about that.

This story is (at least intended to be) the last part of the DinoGate trilogy. It's set in some indefinite time during Season 7. Familiarity with the two previous DinoGate stories is strongly recommended, though I do try to explain the basic facts.

* * *

Two-horn marched through the jungle, slowly, without any hurry, as was her way. She had spent most of the day eating, as she always did, and now she was making her way towards a lake where she could drink. 

She was already near to the lake when a strange object crossed her path. Or rather, it was a being of some sort, much smaller than she, but walking on two feet, like many hunters did. It had strange, silvery shimmering skin that reflected the sun's rays. The being shouted at her, and pointed at her with what looked like tree branch, but was slightly shimmering as well.

Two-horn did not like this new thing in her jungle. It looked and sounded too much like a predator. She would take it down easily. She charged, lunging at it with her two horns. She saw that the creature did not back off, but kept its ground, and there was a strange flash of light from the branch, which might not have been a branch after all. She felt something hot and searing hit her bone-armor-plated head, but she did not stop. More such bolts hit her as she advanced, but before she fell, her horns sank deep into the offending creature.

* * *

"Unscheduled offworld activation!" 

At the sudden announcement, Colonel Jack O'Neill leaped up from behind his computer. He hated writing mission reports. He did hate alien attacks as well, but right now, the latter felt like the lesser evil. Besides, not all unscheduled gate arrivals were hostile. Most of them did come with bad news, though.

Jack ran to the gate control room, and actually got there first--Carter, Daniel and Teal'c arrived right after him. Hammond, of course, had gotten there before him.

"What've we got, sergeant?" the general asked Harriman.

"It's the Tok'ra IDC, sir."

"Let them through, then."

The iris slid aside, revealing the so-far still and silent surface of the gate.

"Well, well, we haven't heard from them in a while," Daniel noted.

"They really should warn us in advance when they're about to pop in, since they always bring nasty stuff with them," Jack added. "Spies here, scheming there..."

A figure stepping through the gate broke the smooth surface, and the conversation. Jack had been expecting a familiar face, if not Jacob Carter, then at least someone they'd met before. At least someone who'd look like a Tok'ra. This person, or whatever he should be called, definitely didn't.

"What the..." Jack muttered.

The traveler landed on the gate ramp, looking a bit unsteady on his feet, like someone who'd just gone through the gate for the first time. Jack had seen many weird things appear from the gate, but this one went right to the top of his list.

Apparently human, the traveler was an old man whose exact age was pretty much impossible to guess. He had long, gray hair and a matching beard, shaggy enough to form dreadlocks. He was wearing extremely worn and dirty trousers, a shirt made of what looked like crocodile leather, and, of all things, a necklace of teeth, in all sizes and shapes.

The odd, definitely not Tok'ra visitor was instantly surrounded by guards, their guns pointed at him. He stopped and raised his hands in a gesture of surrender.

"N-no, wait!" he spoke, the few words revealing a strange accent of some sort. "I need to talk. To the commander of this place, and SG-1."

"I am General George Hammond," the asked-for commander announced his presence through the microphone. "And SG-1 is here with me. Who would you be, and why should we hear what you have to say?"

"I'm Chlewrg-" the man started in an odd growl, but stopped awkwardly, cleared his throat and tried again. "Leo Ramsey. Doctor Leonard Ramsey, paleontologist."

Jack was still frowning, trying to figure out who this was, exactly, when Daniel made it clear. "Leo Ramsey, as in, the man who left Earth to stay on Dinoland, five years ago?"

"I do believe this individual does greatly resemble Doctor Ramsey," Teal'c confirmed.

"I can't believe it--but it really is him, I can recognize him now, too," Carter exclaimed.

"Stand down," Hammond told the guards. "We'll hear his news," he added to SG-1. "But before that, escort him to the infirmary. I want Doctor Fraiser to confirm that he really is who he says, without any unpleasant surprises."

* * *

"So, what's up with the caveman-look?" Colonel O'Neill asked Ramsey, as they walked away from the infirmary, towards the briefing room. Doctor Fraiser had declared that as far as she could tell, this really was Doctor Leonard Ramsey, and that he was in perfect health--actually, better than he had been before he'd left to stay on Dinoland. 

Sam thought that the colonel's quip wasn't the least bit exaggerated. There was a definitely prehistoric air about Ramsey. Of course, it was to be expected.

"Caveman?" Ramsey repeated, and looked at himself. He uttered a slight growl that might've been a chuckle, and answered, "It's not as if could've just walked to the nearest boutique to buy a new suit."

"Yeah, I get that. Though I've got to say, the bone necklace is an especially nice touch."

"This?" Ramsey grabbed the strange adornment, and pulled it over his head. "It's not for decoration. It's scientific evidence."

"Of what? And why? You've studied dinosaur bones on Earth all your life, and now you had plenty of living ones to study, right?" Sam wondered aloud.

"Oh, it's not for me, not really. It's for your people to study. DNA samples, remember? I have twenty different species here, one of them being the Grwch... the Neotroodon. Easy to carry, and easy for me to recognize."

That did make sense. Five years ago, the last time the SGC had had anything to do with P4X-215, better known as Dinoland, they had talked about the possibility of getting DNA samples. The planet held many mysteries. One of them was how and why the Neotroodon had evolved, when no other dinosaurs had. Hopefully the teeth would help in solving that mystery.

The Neotroodon Sapiens Stellaris, as Doctor Ramsey had named the species, was a species of dinosaurs that had never lived on Earth. A species as intelligent as humans, capable of speech and writing, and having a culture and a society of their own. The Neotroodons had been under the rule of an exiled Goa'uld and his offspring for thousands of years, until five years ago SG-1 had helped them gain their freedom.

Ramsey was still holding the necklace in the air, so Sam reached out for it. "I can take this over to the biology department. They'll know how to extract and analyze the DNA, though I'm think it'll take a while."

"Yes, and we don't have that much. Please, do that later. We have wasted enough time already. My news are urgent."

* * *

Teal'c was not surprised to hear that Doctor Ramsey had arrived with information that could not wait. It was surprising that he had come at all, so he must have a very good reason to come. 

The stargate on Dinoland had been buried or otherwise disposed of, as the SGC had suggested. They had tried dialing it after Ramsey had left, but had not gotten through. Unless the dinosaurs had set it up again, Ramsey had used some other means of transportation to leave the dinosaur planet. It was likely that he had had other means at his disposal, considering that one of the dinosaurs of Dinoland, the one that Colonel O'Neill had named Barney, was a Tok'ra operative. Thus it also made sense that Ramsey had come through the gate with the Tok'ra Iris Deactivation Code.

No matter how Ramsey had reached Earth, it had probably not been easy let alone simple for him. Teal'c was anxious to hear what news could have made him embark on such a journey.

"Well, then, Doctor. I would like to start with asking how you came here, and why," Hammond began, once they were all seated around the briefing room table.

"How I came doesn't matter. The Tok'ra helped arrange it. Why I came is the important question," Ramsey spoke quickly, without waiting for comments. "You see--you know--that Grawrrgh, or Dinoland, has always been a sheltered planet. Wahrhrwgh, the first Goa'uld to take a dinosaur host, arrived on the planet thousands of years ago. Very few people from outside Dinoland have set foot there since. You, SG-1, were the first to do that in a very long time. I don't know how it was possible that the peace and quiet lasted as long as it did. Now, it's gone."

Daniel Jackson, who had been staring at the table in an absent manner, suddenly looked up. "The Ancients!" he exclaimed.

Ramsey fell silent, as did everyone else. All eyes were turned to Daniel.

"Beg your pardon?" General Hammond said out loud what everyone was probably wondering.

"The reason for the peace and quiet. The Ancients made Dinoland. They're the ones who saved the dinosaurs from extinction and took them there. I'm sure they also placed some sort of defenses on the planet," Daniel explained.

"And you just suddenly figured this out? How?" Colonel O'Neill asked incredulously.

"I..." Daniel frowned. "I remember it, sort of, almost. I just know it's true. It's got to be some sort of hidden, residual knowledge from the time when I was..."

"Glowy," O'Neill completed the sentence. This time, only Doctor Ramsey gazed at Daniel Jackson with a surprised expression. Of course, Ramsey could not have any idea of what had happened during the years he had spent on Dinoland. Such as the fact that Daniel Jackson had died, or more exactly, ascended, and then returned to human form again.

"Long story," Daniel simply stated. "Let's hear yours first, Leo. We can talk about the Ancients and the Ascended some other time."

"Grch," Doctor Ramsey answered with a growl. He had clearly picked up a dinosaurian accent during his years among them. "My story could be long too, but I'll make it short. The first rumors of strange sightings and encounters came a few weeks ago. They were confirmed this week. A Goa'uld has found Dinoland. His name is Anubis."


	2. Chapter 2

AUTHOR'S NOTE: Lots and lots of talk and no action in this chapter. Sorry about that. Besides, it's not empty words, but important. And I promise the next chapter will take us among the dinos again. :-)

* * *

Out of all the Goa'ulds out there, of course it had to be Anubis who'd found Dinoland. The worst one of them all. It did fit Daniel's idea of Dinoland's origin, though. If the Ancients had created it, then perhaps Anubis had also learned about it since he was half-Ascended.

"I take it that you know this Goa'uld?" Leo asked. He'd probably noticed the dark looks his news had evoked from SG-1.

"Oh yes," Jack assured him. "Are you absolutely certain it's him? How do you know it, anyway?"

"When a few of our scouts ran into his Jaffa and tried to speak to them in the Goa'uld-language, they told them to 'surrender, in the name of Anubis'. I think that's a pretty good clue. So, who is this Goa'uld?"

"He's the worst one there is. The Goa'uldosaurs who used to rule Dinoland were nice and sweet compared to him," Jack said.

"Then you must help us! We have no means to fight such an invader."

"What about the Tok'ra?" Sam asked.

"They won't do a thing. They're too busy doing their own stuff. You should've heard how hard it was for Ghhrrwuaghr--Barney, that is, to convince them just to pick me up, take me to the nearest world with a stargate and let me use their code to come through. They promised they would take me back as well, but they have too many fights to fight that they'd care about a planet and a civilization pretty much meaningless to them."

"But Barney's one of them!" Jack frowned.

"They barely kept contact with him. I speak with Ranys, Barney's symbiote, sometimes, and he feels abandoned. Apparently, the Tok'ra couldn't think of anything that a dinosaur could do for them. He's just too strange, and too easy to recognize."

"Somehow, I'm not all that surprised to hear that", Jack muttered.

"Okay, so, if the Tok'ra won't help them, then we have to," Daniel declared, pointing his words at General Hammond. "We've got to do something."

"I agree, son, but I'm not sure we can. Their planet doesn't even have a stargate anymore. Going there to fight Anubis would take far too much resources, and I doubt we could even win such a fight. And, as much as I hate saying this, once again, there really isn't much in it for us."

Daniel nodded thoughtfully. He'd known to expect that, and in a way, Hammond was right. But still, there had to be some way they could do this. There was no way he was going to accept it that they'd freed the dinosaurs from Goa'uldosaurian rule, just to watch them succumb to Anubis.

"Maybe we could come up with a different plan? The Tok'ra could take just a few of us there, and we could go undercover?" Sam suggested.

Jack shook his head. "Yeah, but what would we do once we got there, Carter? The four of us against Anubis's army?"

"I believe the dinosaurs would have the upper hand in a battle on the surface," Teal'c commented. "They know the jungle, they move far faster than any Jaffa, and if they could also harness some of the greater dinosaurs to help, then they could win. On the other hand, it is likely that Anubis simply bombards them from space, and then there is nothing that they, or we, can do."

"But no, wait," Daniel raised a finger for silence. They were all going on about the wrong things. They did have a way to win this battle, and also a reason to fight it. "I think it's pretty obvious there has to be Ancient technology on the planet. Some kind of defenses. Maybe the stargate used to have an iris, but then ran out of power. Who knows what they've got in there. Maybe the dinosaurs were never actually taken to that planet, maybe they were cloned, and the technology remains."

"Jurassic Park, anyone?" Jack quipped.

"Jack--just think about it. Can you explain why Anubis would care about Dinoland, if not for technology? As far as we know, there aren't any important minerals there. Its location isn't tactically important. It's more than possible that there's advanced technology there that he wants, and we can't let him have it. We need to go there, and figure out the technology before he can, and use it to defeat him."

Daniel thought that settled it, but no one else seemed to think that way. They stared at him with frowns and puzzled expressions.

"Daniel, there's an awful lot of ifs in there, and a lot of guessing. It's not much of a plan. Besides, we never saw any Ancient technology there. Maybe there isn't any," Jack said matter-of-factly.

"But you never saw all that there was to see," Leo suddenly joined the conversation. He had produced a large papyrus roll from the leather bag he was carrying, and spread it on the table. "I only gave you the short story, remember? I didn't tell anything about what happened on Dinoland after we buried the gate. You see, once we began to clear the area around the gate so we could bury it, we found... stuff. We had no idea what it was. Strange technology, all around the stargate, and stone slabs with writing that we could not understand, lost deep in the undergrowth. I did a drawing of it," he gestured at the papyrus.

Leo really was good at drawing details. Daniel had seen him sketch dinosaurs before, so maybe it was a hobby of his. The picture looked almost like a photograph in black and white, and it revealed that the stargate's pedestal was more than just a flat stone with stairs. There were several blocks covered with markings in different parts of it, some of them clearly attached to the gate's ring. There were also a few low stone pillars set some feet away from the gate. Unfortunately Leo hadn't copied the text in them, only a few symbols here and there to give the idea of writing, but that was enough to reveal that it was in Ancient. Daniel could hardly believe they had never noticed all this, but now that he thought about it, the gate and the pedestal had been completely overgrown. There could've been far stranger things hidden there without SG-1 noticing.

"We didn't know what to do with these things", Leo went on. "The dinosaurs were afraid to touch them--they were even afraid to touch the gate, since it was so completely alien to them. In the end, we took the gate ring off the pedestal and carried it elsewhere where it could be buried more easily. That was five years ago. The plant growth has probably hidden all the technology again, and I could never find it from the jungle, but I'm sure the dinosaurs can."

"It's a good thing it's well hidden. If it wasn't, Anubis's troops might have found it already," Daniel said. "He must've found the Goa'uldosaurs' temple complex already, since it's large enough to rise above the treetops."

"It's quite possible. The Great Temple of the Rulers was abandoned as the Goa'uldosaurs were defeated. Now, it's really in ruins, no one ever goes there. The Neotroodonian dwellings lie in many different places around the jungle. The largest one, the capital, is quite near to where the stargate used to be."

"Good. We can go there, then," Jack was with Daniel in this, now. Ready to go. "General, SG-1 is willing to take this mission."

"Very well, Colonel. You will go to P4X-215 and attempt to find and recover any Ancient technology, and, if possible, use it to defend the planet against Anubis. However, should you be unable to find it or operate it, you are not to take any action against Anubis's forces. You are to return home, despite of the consequences to the dinosaurs. Am I making myself clear? If the Ancient technology doesn't work or isn't useful, then you abort the mission."

"Crystal clear, sir," Jack answered for the whole team. It was all Daniel could've asked for. The technology would be there, he was sure of it, and somehow they'd have to figure it out.

"Then we just need to call the Tok'ra and ask them to arrange for our safe passage back to Dinoland," Leo said, smiling. "And while we wait for them, I think I need to fill you in on what's happened in Dinoland. Things are quite different from what they were five years ago."

"While we're at it, I think we'd better ask if they could just lend us a ship, unless they're willing to come and fetch us once we're done. Otherwise we'll have some serious trouble returning to base if the mission's a failure," Jack added.

Daniel knew Jack would rather have left the Tok'ra out completely, if it was up to him. But though the SGC now did have space ships at their disposal, none of them would work at such a long distance. They still lacked a stable hyperdrive.

Fortunately, the Tok'ra were willing to co-operate. They actually promised them a tel'tak vessel, given that SG-1 would also return it to them, in full working order. Daniel couldn't help grinning at that. The chances were this wasn't going to be an easy mission, so they should be happy if they got it back at all.


	3. Chapter 3

AUTHOR'S NOTE: Okay, people, here we go again... I know you all know I'm a Danny whumper, and this story is no exception when it comes to that. My apologies to those who don't like it, but you'll just have to live with it. ;-)

* * *

"Ya think this thing's actually going to fly?" Jack asked from both Carter and the Tok'ra representative who had taken SG-1 and Ramsey to their transport. The ship was hidden in a forest. It was a tel'tak all right, but even past the tree trunks and branches, Jack could see it had a few holes in it. It'd clearly been in a firefight. So much for returning it in perfect shape, when it was such a mess to begin with.

"It has a working hyperdrive, so yes, it will fly. Some non-critical systems are off line and some compartments have been sealed because of air leaks, but it should not matter on such a short distance," the Tok'ra answered. He was young, or at least the host was, and seemed a bit nervous. "I apologize for this. It was damaged when we were fetching Doctor Ramsey from the planet. At that time, the cloaking device was damaged. It has now been repaired."

"Way to go," Jack grinned. He hadn't thought they'd get one of those. That made things a whole lot easier, if it really did work. Instead of trying to somehow sneak around Anubis's ships or posing as one of them, they could just fly by unseen.

"I'll see if I can do something about the 'non-critical' stuff during our trip, sir," Carter added.

"Carter, I'd rather have you check it before we're somewhere in deep space without heating and oxygen."

Once they got in to the ship, Carter quickly confirmed that the Tok'ra hadn't lied: the ship would fly, had a working cloaking device, and the things that didn't work wouldn't matter. Jack told her that if they weren't important, she should just leave them be, but she insisted. They had time, she would spend it in a useful way.

The trip from this planet, P5Z-whatever to Dinoland took some six hours. Plenty of time to learn the latest news on the dinos. Ramsey and the rest of SG-1 sat down near to where Carter was working, so she wouldn't miss anything.

"So, apparently you learned the dinosaurs' language?" Daniel started interviewing Ramsey.

"Oh yes, I did, though you can't believe how hard it was. I still speak with a horrible accent."

"Wow," Daniel smiled. "I had to communicate with them in Goa'uld, since I never had the chance to study the real, original language of the Neotroodon. It must be... alien. I can just imagine--a language created by dinosaurs..."

"Well, the grammar is really quite simple. It's the sounds that are difficult--at first, it all sounded like random growls and roars to me. I wrote some notes about the language, but it's not much. I hardly know anything about such stuff."

Daniel kept going once he got started with the questions. At some point, Jack realized he was only listening with half an ear. "How about the society in general? The culture? Who leads them? Do they live in families--are they polygamous? What's the material culture like? Any original mythology that you know of?"--on and on and on.

Jack did get the most important details from Ramsey's explanations. Among them was the question about leadership. Apparently, the dinosaurs had some kind of a democracy of their own, with one leader who was elected and didn't have absolute power, like a president, and then a council of elders, a senate, as Ramsey called it. He also added that it wasn't quite as simple as that, but that he didn't really understand all the details of dinosaurian politics.

Barney had held the 'presidency' for the first three years after they'd gotten rid of the Goa'uld. That was one reason why he hadn't kept in touch with the Tok'ra. He had wanted to step aside earlier, but the other dinosaurs had insisted, and he'd done as the people wanted. After three years, he had finally handed the office to a regular dinosaur. A female one, and according to Ramsey, the very concept of sexism was alien to the dinosaurs.

Ramsey described the Neotroodonian culture as something that reminded him of Amazonian Indians, which, he admitted, he didn't really know that well, either. Nature was very important to the dinosaurs, so they only built from natural materials, and tried not to harm the jungle unnecessarily. And enjoyed dancing and music and storytelling, and ceremonies. Which SG-1 got to prove as soon as they reached Dinoland and met the dinosaurs.

They came out of hyperspace well in time before they reached the planet, so they could approach it carefully. By the time they found that there were two Goa'uld motherships and several ha'taks in orbit, they were all holding their breaths. Carter had checked the cloaking system and declared it was all right. Nevertheless, a regular cloaking device would not make the ship completely undetectable, so the atmosphere was pretty tense as they flew past the large ships.

For once, SG-1 were in luck, the cloaking held and they weren't noticed. As a precaution, they landed closer to the temple complex than the gate, so that there'd be no risk of them accidentally exposing the dinosaurian settlements or the gate to Anubis.

Of course, the precaution meant that SG-1 had to spend most of the day walking in the rainforest. It was just like Jack remembered, hot, humid, extremely green and very dense, the undergrowth so thick that it really could hide who knew what Ancient stuff. Or huge dinosaurs, or Anubis's Jaffa. Jack was constantly on his toes, afraid that they'd run into either.

Ramsey admitted that he only knew the general direction where they should go, and wasn't sure he'd be able to take them directly to the capital. He was sure they'd meet the dinosaurs sometime before they got near to it, and they did.

Though Jack knew perfectly well what the Neotroodons looked like and knew to expect them, they still gave him the creeps. A group of almost human-height lizards walking on two feet, with cold reptilian eyes, sharp claws and teeth suddenly emerging out of the jungle was enough to make anyone uneasy. These dinosaurs also carried weapons, spears and bows, and had leather belts and even jewelry, made of leather, precious stones and clay.

"Ramsey, remind me why the dinos need these patrols anyway, will ya. I mean, before Anubis came, there were no other sentient beings here, right?" Jack asked in a low voice, as the scouts growled excitedly amongst themselves, probably about SG-1.

"Well, there are... Or rather, might be. We're not certain, but even though the last Ruler died, one Goa'uldosaur may have survived. And we know for sure that some dinosaurs who supported the Goa'uldosaurs did survive and escape. We've even managed to capture and execute a few, but some remain."

"The roles have been reversed," Teal'c noted. So they had--the last time SG-1 had been here, the good guys, the dinosaurs willing to fight for their freedom from the Goa'uld, had been rebels. Now, the rebels were the bad guys, and this could be a very bad thing. If there still was a rebel Goa'uldosaur somewhere out there hiding in some distant part of the planet, they might get together with Anubis, and who knew what'd come out of that.

"And you never thought to mention this earlier," Jack muttered to Ramsey. It could be an important detail, but then again, maybe not. Why would Anubis want a dinosaur for an ally, anyway?

The Neotroodon scouts finished their conversation and explained it to Ramsey, who translated it to SG-1. One of the scouts would head to the capital right away, as fast as he could. The rest of them would slow their pace to walk with Ramsey and SG-1. The advance scout was going to announce to all and everyone that SG-1 were here, and that there should be a gathering, a ceremony, and an impromptu feast as soon as they reached the capital. Which was great, Jack thought ironically. Taking part in a dinosaur party was definitely the best way to start a desperate mission to save a planet from Anubis.

So, against all reason and completely contrary to anything Jack could've expected, he found himself standing in the middle of the dinosaurian capital's town square, in front of a stylized statue representing a human and a Neotroodon. According to Ramsey, it was supposed to be Barney and Daniel, though the figures were so vague that they weren't recognizable. The statue was made of stone, and it was the only thing of its kind as far as Jack could see.

Capital wasn't exactly the best possible choice of word for the settlement, since it looked more like some kind of an Indian village than a city. The houses, or huts, were large, built of wood, huge leaves, bamboo-like stems and other natural materials. No stone or bricks anywhere. Although many trees had been felled to make room for the buildings, it still looked as if they were partially hidden in the jungle, and most of the huts had trees growing through them.

Jack wasn't big on ceremonies like this. SG-1 was surrounded by the largest bunch of Neotroodons he had ever seen. There were dinosaurs all around the square, in the huts, among the trees and bushes, hundreds of them, it seemed.

Apparently Barney didn't enjoy the situation either, because the Tok'rasaur was stepping around nervously. Jack was a bit surprised to see that--Barney had, after all, been the president for three years, so he had had time to get used to ceremonies. Since SG-1 had been taken here as soon as they'd arrived, they hadn't had the chance to talk to him yet. Daniel stood between him and Jack, looking more at ease than the dinosaur, eagerly taking in the newly reshaped dinosaurian culture.

The current president walked past them, giving a low nod to each, and stopped next to Teal'c.

Before the president got started with her speech, Daniel suddenly shouted "No!"

Jack's eyes turned to where Daniel was looking, and he just caught a glimpse of a dinosaur amongst the crowd lowering a blowgun. That glimpse cost Jack a fraction of a second, which was enough for Daniel to step protectively in front of Barney. Talk about déjà vu.

With a soft whoosh, the dart from the blowgun sank deep into Daniel's right side. It had to be one of the damn rebel bad guys. Of course, they'd targeted Barney, whom the dinosaurs pretty much hero-worshiped. Though they probably wouldn't mind taking Daniel down, either.

It didn't look as if the dart had caused too bad an injury. It was long but slim, clearly designed to pierce a dinosaur's thick scaly skin. Nevertheless, Daniel was wavering on his feet. Jack put an arm around his shoulders.

Barney leaped in front of Daniel, took the dart between his teeth and, without warning, pulled it out. Daniel grunted at the sudden sting and fell to his knees, slipping from Jack's grip.

"Hey!" Jack shouted at Barney, but Barney shook his head--a human gesture he had learned.

"It had to be done. The dart is poisoned," Barney said, now holding it in his clawed hand. That figured. Of course it had to be. Barney went on to growl orders at some dinosaurs somewhere around the square. Jack ignored that, a weak voice from Daniel taking all his attention.

"Jack..." Daniel uttered. "Can't... Can't feel my feet."

Jack absently noted that Carter was now standing behind him. Ignoring her as well, he knelt in front of Daniel, putting his hands on his shoulders.

"What kind of poison?" he heard Carter ask Barney. "And how much?"

"Lethal. Enough to kill one of my kind," Barney answered, not leaving much hope. Something that was lethal to a dinosaur would probably be twice so to a human. "In less than one of your hours, the victim becomes paralyzed and finally suffocates. But there is an antidote, and I have already sent for it."

Jack breathed out of relief for that. Barney really knew how to choose his wording. A dinosaur shouldn't scare people like that. It'd be all right, they'd give Daniel the antidote and he'd be fine. But either Daniel hadn't heard that, or hadn't realized what Barney had said, because he was staring at Jack with wide, frightened eyes.

"Jack... Can't..." he repeated, his lips barely moving. Already paralyzed, Jack thought with a sinking feeling. As if to back up Jack's thoughts, Daniel went completely limp. Jack held his grip and set his friend gently on the ground.

Less than an hour, Barney--like hell. Daniel had went down in less than a minute. The dinosaurs had better hurry with the antidote.


	4. Chapter 4

Sam cast a glance over her shoulder to see what'd happened to the attacker. The dinosaurs had leaped into action as soon as they'd realized what had happened. They'd found the rebel assassin, surrounded him and... Teal'c had taken a few running steps towards the attacker, but he'd stopped on his tracks. Sam had to turn her eyes away from the spectacle. However intelligent they were, the Neotroodon could be extremely violent when they had a reason for it. She had no idea what their legal system was like, but now they'd clearly decided that the attacker was guilty, and went on to execute him right away. 

Daniel was lying on the ground now, completely still and unmoving. Still as dead. O'Neill shook his head at Sam, looking furious, and she knew what he was thinking: that Barney might've been better off saying nothing at all, since his ideas were based on dinosaurian physiology. Any guesses Barney could make about the poison's effects on Daniel would necessarily go wrong. SG-1 had already learned the last time when they were on Dinoland that not only could the Neotroodon handle a tremendous amount of pain and blood loss, but also that a dinosaur's metabolism was different from a human's.

O'Neill held a hand over Daniel's face, and shook his head again. "He's not breathing," he noted to Sam, grabbed Daniel's shoulders and shook him. "Come on, Daniel! Dammit, breathe!" he shouted. It gave her a horrid feeling of déjà vu, calling to mind the first time they'd been on this planet.

The first time they'd been here, Daniel had been badly injured. This time was different. "Sir, that's not going to work!" Sam shouted at O'Neill. "If his respiratory muscles are paralyzed, he's not going to start breathing on his own before the poison's all gone."

The colonel stopped, frowning. He looked oddly at a loss. Now that she thought about it, although he must have had more than enough first aid training during his long military career, he'd mostly left such things to her. But that odd look only lasted for a blink. Then he crouched over his friend and began rescue breathing.

Sam stepped closer, and glanced around. The dinosaurs were apparently finished with the attacker, because they weren't growling and fighting anymore. Instead, they'd gathered around SG-1, staring at them with what she took to be amazement. Doctor Ramsey stood among them, just like one of them once again.

Teal'c walked to stand besides Sam. "How is Daniel Jackson?" he asked.

Sam shook her head. Not good, it seemed. She held a hand over her mouth, fighting back the dread.

O'Neill paused for a moment, and looked up. "Still got a pulse, though. Could be worse," he noted, and continued with the mouth-to-mouth.

She felt like it'd went on for ages when the antidote Barney had called for finally showed up. A Neotroodon dressed in a strange web knit of thin leather cord and pearls brought it. 'Antidote' sounded like an overly fine word to it, since it was simply a clay cup full of greenish liquid that had a vague, sweet scent to it.

Barney roared out angrily at the other dinosaur, before turning to face SG-1. "I am sorry. She was too slow," he told them. "I'm so sorry."

"Huh? What?" Jack shouted from Daniel's side. "He's not dead yet!"

"He is so far gone that he cannot swallow this himself. How, then, can we give it to him? Although the poison produces effects in tiny quantities, the amount of antidote needed to counter it is greater. We cannot simply dip a dart in it and strike him with that."

"Well, not exactly, but almost," Sam told Barney. She dropped her pack to the ground and sought the first aid kit for an empty syringe. She should've done this earlier, why hadn't she thought--but of course she hadn't, she'd been too shocked by the situation. It was only months since Daniel had quite literally returned from the dead, and the thought of losing him again was just... unthinkable.

She found the syringe and held out her hand. The dinosaur gave her the cup. She bit her lip. She wasn't sure this would be a good idea. "Barney, is this antidote safe?"

"Safe?" the Tok'rasaur repeated. "That would depend. If taken on its own, it would be poisonous as well. When used as an antidote, it can save lives."

"Right. Sir?" she called out to O'Neill. "We have no idea of the correct dosage. There's a good chance I'll end up giving Daniel an overdose of this other stuff, and that might be just as bad as the original poisoning. If this poison only affects his breathing, then he'll be all right if we just keep up the rescue breathing long enough."

"Yeah, Carter, that's one helluva big if!" O'Neill muttered between breaths, his fingers on Daniel's neck again. "What if it doesn't work that way? I think his pulse is getting weaker."

"Sir, I'm not..." she began.

He shook his head, gave two breaths, and spoke again. "Carter, that's an order. Give him the antidote."

She nodded, though she was still horribly uncertain about it. Teal'c had already moved in to pull up Daniel's sleeve and wrapped a bandanna around his arm. She placed the needle in the cup and filled the syringe with the greenish liquid. It wasn't exactly clear, there seemed to be small pieces of plant leaves or some such floating in it. She could just hope it wouldn't clog the needle. Filling the syringe entirely only took about one-third of the contents of the cup.

Sam noted her hands were shaking pretty badly, but she'd just have to manage. She located a vein in Daniel's arm, sank the needle in it, and, holding her breath, injected half of what she had in the syringe.

O'Neill glanced at her. "You sure that's enough?"

"I really don't know, sir."

"How fast should this thing work, anyway?" he asked, eyeing Barney.

"Perhaps you should not ask me. With my kind, it takes some time. When it comes to yours, I could not know," the dinosaur answered, wary since his last predictions had been so far from the mark.

"So, I guess we wait," O'Neill said darkly.

* * *

Teal'c was beginning to get frightened. He did not fear many things--danger, battle, or injuries of any kind were quite familiar to him, and he did not fear those. He would not even admit that he feared death. But he did fear losing his friends. They had merely waited for seconds since Major Carter had administered the antidote, but those seconds felt like hours, when there seemed to be no effect.

"He's still not breathing. It's not working," Colonel O'Neill declared, and resumed with the rescue breathing.

Teal'c felt something wet touch his arm, and then his head. Slightly confused, he raised his eyes from Daniel Jackson and looked around. It was starting to rain--the afternoon rain that was so inevitable in this climate.

"Aw, come on!" O'Neill complained, gazing at the first droplets falling on the ground. It would soon become soaked and muddy. They would need to move inside, but with Daniel Jackson lying lifeless on the ground, they could not consider moving anywhere.

As it was, Daniel Jackson chose this very moment to come to life again. It did not look pleasant. He breathed in sharply, and then began coughing, his entire body spasming violently. Teal'c knelt down, helping O'Neill to keep him down, but soon, they were both fighting to roll him over to his side, as he began retching.

"Oh God," Major Carter uttered right behind Teal'c. "It was too much. It must've been. An overdose."

"Carter, it's all right," O'Neill told her. "Better sick and breathing than not sick and not breathing."

The worst only lasted for some minutes, and then Daniel Jackson became still again. This time, however, he was no longer paralyzed, and kept breathing on his own. The rain was now pouring on them, and Teal'c saw that most of their dinosaur audience had disappeared.

"Barney, we should get him inside," O'Neill said.

"Ah, yes, of course," the Tok'rasaur answered, and if Teal'c could read his tone, it sounded hesitant. The dinosaur was astonished that they had managed to rescue their friend from certain death. "I shall lead you to the healer's abode. That should be the best place for him."

Teal'c lifted Daniel Jackson from the ground. O'Neill offered to help with carrying him, but Teal'c gestured him away. He could carry Daniel alone for a short distance. He noted that the younger man was shivering slightly, either from cold or from the effects of the poison or the antidote. Teal'c decided not to consider what other after effects those might have.

Barney lead Teal'c deeper into the dinosaurian village, the rest of SG-1 and Doctor Ramsey following them silently.


	5. Chapter 5

The planet was a lifeless wasteland, nothing but bare mountains, rocks and sand, the cold wind howling in the empty plains. Dinoland, a few million years ago. Not sixty-five millions. The dinosaurs had long ago become extinct on Earth. But as Daniel well knew, as long as humans had known that dinosaurs had once existed, they had been fascinated by them. The Ancients, it seemed, were no different from regular humans, when it came to that. 

Daniel flew, or rather, floated above the barren landscape. A ghost, an incorporeal being, one of the Ascended. One who was not truly there, merely reliving the events, examining the memories of long past, as the Ascended could. They knew all that there was to know. All of the history of the universe.

A space ship approached the lifeless surface and made contact. The airlock opened, and out came several human figures. Ancients. Their space suits were so advanced that they were actually force fields of a sort, adjusting to the shape of the wearer. Daniel understood how they worked, of course, and could have taught the people of Earth to replicate the technology--if only he could. But he could not interfere.

The Ancients walked around, looked around, scanned the planet with their instruments. There were four of them, two men and two women. Days passed, they traveled far and wide, until finally, they met again, and discussed what they had seen. Everything was as they had thought. The planet was dead. There was nothing there to hinder their plans. They agreed that they would move on, and left.

Years later, they returned with more ships and began their work. They placed technology all around the planet, on the surface and in the orbit. It did not seem massive enough to affect anything on such a grand scale, but it was. Daniel knew that the Ancients utilized nanotechnology with great skill. With the technology in place, they sat in their newly built base and waited.

Years and years passed and Daniel watched. It did not look like fast forward to him. It seemed like the regular passage of time, yet he knew it could not be. For the Ascended, a second and a year carried but a very small difference.

Slowly, the planet began to change. The surface grew less barren, water began to flow, somehow brought to the surface from somewhere deep beneath, and freed from the ice caps at the poles. Where great plains had been, now billowed the waters of newborn oceans. Clouds formed in the sky, the cold wind ceased and the world began to grow warmer.

It was time for the Ancients to move in again, and so they did, placing even more technology, some of it intertwined with the old, though it was different. It brought life with it. Plants began to grow out of the ground, different plants in different climates. The tropical zone interested Daniel the most, and there he saw many plants that were familiar to him. The jungle of Dinoland grew before him, changing the surface of the planet forever.

The world was ready. The Ancients stepped forth for the third time. They opened the doors of their underground bases and labs, those that lead directly to the surface, and freed their creations. Their dinosaurs. Clones, one might say, but it was not exactly correct. They were not copies of each other, nor of any dinosaurs that had lived. Instead, they had been created out of dinosaur DNA, fetched through time travel from the very years before their extinction. It had been changed, modified skillfully and ever so slightly. The dinosaurs were individuals, genetically different enough from each other that they could breed without any risk of deterioration.

There were but a few dinosaurs at first, at certain places around the planet, but the Ancients did not stop at that. They stayed at their work and made more of them, of countless species to fit the different climates, to fill each ecological niche.

Even to Daniel's Ascended mind, it was amazing. Mind-boggling. He could barely believe that this was how it had been done. To him, the idea of a Noah's ark in space had felt far more likely. But this was the truth: Dinoland was indeed Jurassic Park. Only a far more advanced version that had truly worked.

With somewhat less interest, Daniel witnessed the events that took place once the creation was over. There was dispute among the Ancients--and this was not the first time, for there had been dispute before, concerning some details of the dinosaurs' genetic make up. This second time, they spoke of how they should safeguard the planet, and whether they should make it open to visitors.

In the end, they did both. They built an entrance for visitors: the stargate, right over their largest base, their control center. Connected to the base were observation domes set in numerous sites around the planet. They also built defenses--an iris over the gate to keep unwanted visitors out, and weapons powerful enough to shoot things out of the orbit, mostly meant to destroy asteroids, like the one that had destroyed the dinosaurs in the first place.

Daniel kept watching, and saw the Ancients leave. He knew it was because of the great plague sweeping over the galaxy. He was not interested in the story of those individual Ancients, not right now. He kept following what happened on Dinoland. He saw how the small predatory species known as Troodon began to evolve, and in a million years, turned into the intelligent Neotroodon.

Slowly, the Ancient safety measures began to falter. The force fields around the observation domes collapsed, and the jungle conquered what was left of the technology. The planetary defense system went dead. Not long after that, a Goa'uld arrived and took a Neotroodon as his host. Then followed the thousands of years that the dinosaurs spent as slaves of the Goa'uld.

Finally came the age when even the simplest precaution the Ancients had made, the one taking the least energy, would no longer work. That was the small force field that functioned as the gate's iris. There was nothing to stop gate travel anymore, and nothing to keep SG-1 from the planet. Daniel relived his first visit to the planet, and then the second one, the victory over the Goa'uld, and the renaissance of the Neotroodonian culture.

And so it was that although the green jungles and the blue sky looked no different, below them, everything had changed. The world that had come to be artificially and spent more than half of its existence under the control of others, was finally free.

But all of a sudden, there was a shadow over the greenness, a dark shape passing the sun in the sky. The silhouette of a Goa'uld mother ship. Anubis.

Daniel woke up.

It took him less than two seconds to figure that he was definitely not Ascended anymore. He was very much corporeal, and he felt horrible. Sick from his toes to the top of his head.

It took a lot more time for him to figure out where he was and what was going on. He was on Dinoland. He had been dreaming about Dinoland as well, about its history... He felt too sick to concentrate on it. The memories, though just a moment old, were too slippery, so far away.

He was on Dinoland, and he had saved Ghhrrwuaghr, so that he'd been poisoned, and that was why he felt so awful.

He opened his eyes to see where, exactly, he was, but it didn't help a lot. He just saw a green ceiling and a green-brown wall, and then the nausea forced him to close his eyes again. He swallowed. He really, really didn't want to throw up. He remembered vaguely that he'd already done it, several times, but he had no idea where that fit in with his dreams of Dinoland.

"Daniel?" Jack's soft voice came from somewhere above his left ear.

"Yeah," Daniel croaked. His mouth and lips felt dry, his throat sore.

"Back among the living again," Jack sounded relieved, and gave his shoulder a squeeze. "Daniel, if you ever, ever dare do something like this again, I swear I'll... You know, I've already watched you die once. I'm not going to watch it again. Hell, I'm the older one of us two. It should be the other way around."

Daniel couldn't force himself to speak again, couldn't say anything to defend himself. Sure, he'd had no intention of getting himself killed, or even nearly so--he had no idea how near he'd been, but pretty near, if it'd made Jack this sentimental. Then again, of course he had done it. He'd had the chance to save Ghhrrwuaghr, and he'd taken it. If it'd happen again, he'd do it again.

The silence told Daniel that Jack was waiting for him to speak up, too. When he didn't, Jack changed the subject completely. "Want some water?"

Daniel knew that he should. He should drink, and on some level, he was really thirsty. But he also felt really sick, and the mere thought of trying to drink made him even more so. "Not really," he said.

There was a shuffling sound at the far end of the hut. By the sound of it, several people stepped inside. Daniel opened his eyes again and turned his head towards the sound. The room spun for a moment, but then settled to reveal Sam, Leo and a Neotroodon Daniel didn't recognize.

"How's Daniel?" Sam asked.

"Awake," he answered her himself.

"Oh, that's great! How do you feel?"

"Don't even ask."

"The healer-" Sam nodded towards the dinosaur by her side "-has suggested this herbal tea of some sort that she thinks could help you recover faster, but I'm not sure about it..."

"I'll pass," Daniel said right away. Maybe later, but definitely not now.

"I think Daniel's already had his share of dino medicine. Better to stick to what we can come up with from now on," Jack said.

Daniel had no idea of what he was talking about. All he could remember was being hit, and then the horror as the feeling escaped from his limbs, from his body--he remembered falling to the ground, unable to move, to speak, even to breathe, and he had been aware of it happening for quite a while, until he had mercifully lost consciousness.

After that, he had been dreaming of Dinoland. Of the Ancients who had built Dinoland. If only he could remember more clearly. Even the things that he could remember were strange.

"Jurassic Park," he whispered, mostly to himself.

"What's that?" Jack asked instantly.

"I dreamed... No, I think I remembered something," Daniel began, and coughed to clear his throat. "This place. It really is Jurassic Park. The Ancient version."

"Daniel, you were poisoned. Twice. You've probably been hallucinating."

Twice? Daniel was about to ask what Jack meant, when Ghhrrwuaghr and Teal'c ran in. The hut was beginning to feel somewhat crowded.

"We have urgent news," Ghhrrwuaghr announced.

"Several dinosaurian patrols have met Anubis's Jaffa," Teal'c explained. "They are getting closer to us, and more importantly, nearer to the stargate. We may not have much time."

"We've got to get to the stargate!" Daniel exclaimed, and pushed himself up, to lean on his elbows. He remembered enough of his Ascended memories that he knew what they had to do. The urge to act was so strong that it did away with the worst of his nausea. "We have to get there first. There really is technology there. Like nothing we've ever seen. We've got to hurry."

* * *

AUTHOR'S NOTE: Talk about exposition, or plot-dumping... I just had to get this background story out somehow, you know. That's part of why I wanted to do a part III of DinoGate. Besides, it really is important to the plot. And--Lo and behold!--for once, there was some sort of a point to the whumping! ;-) 


	6. Chapter 6

Author's Excuses: Usually, I never ever take this long to update. Very sorry about it. It's this summer job I've got, and writer's block of some sort, and there's been all kinds of other stuff for me to think about. But here's the next chapter. Slow as I might be, I do intend to finish this story some day, never worry about that.

* * *

"Daniel, are you nuts?" Jack shook his head at his friend. "Just look at yourself. Barney says the walk to the gate will take us over an hour. You're in no shape for that right now." 

Daniel was lying on a makeshift bed on the floor--a blanket and a sleeping bag spread to cover the soft leaves, twigs and grass that made up the original dinosaurian bedding. Though he'd propped himself up on his elbows and spoke eagerly, he looked far from well. His face was pale and drawn, and the fact that he'd refused water told clearly how sick he felt.

"I'll manage," he insisted. "If Anubis is getting nearer, then we've got no choice. Jack, the technology there was powerful enough to transform the planet from a lifeless wasteland into this, and to create the dinosaurs based on a few DNA samples. We can't let Anubis have it."

Carter's eyes went wide at Daniel's words, but then narrowed in a frown. "How can you know that, Daniel? We haven't even found any concrete proof that there's something there."

"Because I remember it. I learned about it when I was Ascended. Come on, Jack, you've got to trust me on this one. I know it wasn't a hallucination, it was the real thing, and we really need to get going," Daniel pleaded, and sat up with his back against the reed wall. It took him that long to figure that his upper body was bare. "What's happened to my clothes?" he added, in a more subdued tone.

"They got dirty. You've got spare ones in your pack, right?" Jack answered. 'Dirty' was a bit of an understatement--'wet and covered with mud and puke' would've been closer to the mark. Whatever, Jack thought, and tossed the pack to Daniel.

"This means we're going, right?" Daniel checked, as he dug out a clean t-shirt.

Jack nodded slowly. Carter cast him a surprised glance, and Teal'c raised an eyebrow.

"We're going. Just..." Jack was about to tell Daniel not to blame him when he'd start feeling too sick to walk, but decided against it. Daniel really should blame him. He had every reason to. It really was Jack's fault he'd gotten this way. "Just take it easy, Daniel, all right?" he said, instead.

Jack's idea was that they'd head to the gate with as small a party as possible, but Barney wouldn't let them go without him and a bunch of guards, and Leo insisted he'd have to come with them as interpreter. Jack decided that it might not be such a bad idea after all. If they should run into some huge angry meat-eater dino, let alone a bunch of rebel Goa'uldosaur-supporters, it wouldn't hurt to have a few friendly Neotroodons on their side.

Luckily, gathering the party was quickly done, and soon--all too soon, when it came to Daniel--they were making their way through the dense jungle again. All of SG-1 walked protectively near him: Jack by his side, Carter in front of them and Teal'c behind. The dinosaurs spread out around them as ordered by Barney. They did most of the scouting and guarding, since they could move around in the jungle way faster and easier than any of the humans.

They'd only been walking for some fifteen minutes, when Daniel suddenly took a few running steps to the bushes on their left. He'd been looking more than a bit green around the gills, so Jack could easily guess what he was up to. He ran after him, but shook his head at Carter and Teal'c, who'd moved in to follow as well.

Jack knew Daniel couldn't have gone far, but the damn thick growth of all sorts of green stuff made locating him surprisingly hard. By the time he found him, Daniel was sitting with his back against a tree, his knees pulled up.

Jack sat down next to him. "You okay?"

"Mostly," Daniel answered wearily.

"Did you..." Jack couldn't figure how he could be tactful even if he wanted to. "You threw up again?"

Daniel coughed a bit and explained, "Tried to. Couldn't. There's nothing left."

"Daniel, you really should drink. Dehydration makes people feel sick too, so it's definitely not helping a bit."

"I know," Daniel answered, and fumbled for his canteen. It looked awkward enough that Jack reached to help him, picked it up, opened it and gave it to him. Daniel accepted it and took a sip, then a bit more, before setting the canteen to the ground. He closed his eyes and leaned back. "Sorry, Jack," he said softly.

"Oh, for crying out loud. You've got nothing to be sorry about."

"I figured I could handle the walk. Not so sure anymore."

"Well, like you said, we've got to get to the gate before Anubis. If there's some weird Ancient stuff there, you might be the only one who can figure it out. Besides, I'm the one who should apologize."

"Why's that? I get shot by a dino dart and get sick and you need to apologize? Jack, that makes no sense."

"See, Daniel, the truth is that you don't know the whole truth," Jack began. Daniel would have to learn it all sometime, this was a moment as good as any. His not knowing about it kept gnawing at Jack's conscience. "What happened was, once you'd went down, Barney got us the antidote. We had no idea how it'd work or what the right dose might be. Carter didn't want to give it to you, but I made it an order. Now, I'm pretty sure she's blaming herself, because she was the one who gave you the injection, but the truth is, I gave the order, so I'm responsible. Bottom line is, it's our fault you're sick."

"You can't be sure, Jack. At least I'm alive. Without that antidote, I might not be. Besides, how can you know this isn't all because of the poison itself?"

"Guessing on the way you looked once we'd gotten that antidote into you... But no, you're right. There's no point in anyone blaming anyone," Jack said, though he couldn't really convince himself. Nevertheless, it eased his guilt quite a bit to hear that Daniel wasn't about to start blaming anyone. Of course he wasn't--that wasn't Daniel's way of doing things. But still. "You feeling any better?" he changed the subject.

"Water hasn't tried to make a reappearance yet."

"And that's..." Jack was cut mid sentence by the awfully familiar sound of a staff blast, followed by the flame of it hitting the tree just above their heads. "Damn," he cursed, leaped up, and gave his hand to Daniel, pulling his friend to his feet.

As they made their way back to the main party, Jack heard and saw a few Neotroodons, a few fleeting shadows among the leaves, heading towards where the attackers would probably be. Just as Jack and Daniel got back to the others--a worried-looking Carter and Teal'c who already had his staff weapon armed--they heard more sounds from where the staff blasts had come from. A fierce dinosaurian roar, and then a loud voice yelling something in Goa'uld, which quickly turned into a blood-curdling scream of pain.

It sounded to Jack that the dinos were doing pretty well against the Jaffa. SG-1 had no idea of how many Jaffa they were facing. Their goal was, above all, to get to the gate, and if they could avoid fighting the Jaffa and getting seen by them, they should. Of course, the Jaffa might've seen him and Daniel already, but on the other hand, they could've just been aiming at the sound of their voices. Jack knew when to fight and when to flee, and this time they weren't going to fight.

"Get going," Jack hissed, urging the party to move on. The humans and the remaining dinosaurs instantly obeyed his orders, lead by Barney. Teal'c cast Jack a dark look--he wouldn't have wanted to run--but he probably understood Jack's reasoning, and started running nevertheless. Daniel looked somewhat shaky on his feet, so Jack pulled his arm over his shoulder and half-dragged him along.

After a while, there were no more sounds from the Jaffa, and then, the four Neotroodon guards returned, sporting blood all over them. Jaffa blood, it seemed, since Jack couldn't spot any injuries on any of them. They ran to Barney's side and growled their news to him. Barney was quick to report them to Jack.

"There were only two Jaffa, and they were easily disposed of. Easily, but not fast enough, I fear. It's most likely that they were only the scouts of some larger party, and since they made such a noise, that larger party will now know that something has happened," the Tok'rasaur explained.

"Well, for all they know, it might've been just a random bunch of wild animals that attacked them," Jack noted.

"Let us hope that is what they think, and that they will not attempt to pursue us."


End file.
